1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information retrieval/distribution system, a computer readable storage medium, and a program for information retrieval/distribution, which are configured on computers such as personal computers and used for retrieving various kinds of information such as fact data which are scattered on a network such as the Internet and for distributing the information to users, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in research or development workplaces, several kinds of information, for example, fact data such as waveform data from seismometers and genetic information, which have been collected through researcher's experiment, etc., are stored in respective databases and are used by other experts.
In recent years, we have had much opportunity, because of the widespread use of the Internet, in which the data stored in databases are retrieved by users and distributed to the users through the Internet. Users empirically know the location of a database necessary for themselves, and conventionally obtain the necessary data (information) by sending e-mail to the database administrator of the database, or receiving a data distribution service on the basis of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) indicating the address of the database, etc.
In more detail, the conventional information retrieval/distribution system for obtaining necessary data through the Internet is usually configured so that personal computers possessed by users, database servers for providing a plurality of databases, and personal computers for database servers for giving several kinds of instructions to the database servers, are connected to the Internet
In this information retrieval/distribution system, users, as information retrieval request sources, know empirically the location of the database having the data necessary, and request the personal computers for the database servers through the user's personal computers to offer the database to the users. The user then allows a browser to display the data in the database which has been offered from the personal computer for the database servers, on the input screen of the user's personal computer, and retrieves the necessary data. When the necessary data is in the database, the user obtains the data through the personal computer for the database servers.
However, there is a problem, in the conventional information retrieval/distribution system described above, in that it is difficult for users to know the location of every database, through the Internet, in which the necessary data are stored, because these data can be scattered all over the world, in many cases. We have another problem in that it is also difficult for experts to use these data, because the formats of these data are not unified, in many cases.
Furthermore, although the data in the field of expertise can be obtained through an institute, etc., it is even difficult to know whether the data exists or not when retrieving the data outside the field of expertise, Even if a typical information retrieval tool, such as a search engine, on the Internet is used, a number of sites on the Internet have to be searched, which puts a large burden to the users.
On the other hand, it is also difficult to know the ever-increasing locations of databases (database sites) on the Internet. For this reason, locations of databases are often disclosed through e-mail or homepages at present, and hence users always have to monitor the information about the database sites necessary for the users.